Goldman Sachs Loses Top Bond Trader to Morgan Stanley

In one of the first high-profile Wall Street defections of the year, Edward Glenn Hadden, former head of government-bond trading at Goldman Sachs, has been named Morgan Stanley’s new head of global rates trading, say people familiar with the matter.

Hadden, who made partner at Goldman in 2008, was one of the firm’s top bond traders. But in recent months, he had reportedly gone AWOL at the firm—with the Wall Street Journal reporting last August that his Goldman e-mail address no longer even worked. (A Goldman operator this afternoon said that the firm had no extension listed for an employee named Glenn Hadden.)

Morgan’s hiring of Hadden—which comes just a day before the firm announces bonuses to employees on Friday—is its latest attempt to help shore up a tarnished fixed-income division. Morgan largely missed out on the fixed-income profits of 2009, and has struggled in the past year to find the right leadership in its bond unit.

On Thursday, the firm reported fixed-income sales and trading losses of $29 million for the fourth quarter of last year.

And just last week, Morgan announced that Jack DiMaio, who had run the interest rate, credit and currency business for only a year and a half, was to leave. DiMaio is being replaced by Kenneth deRegt, Morgan’s well-liked chief risk officer.